Elspeth Beard, early motorcycle globetrotter

 During the year 2013-2014, there have been more than a hundred women riders to embark on a motorcycle journey with Vintage Rides! Ladies, you’ve been riding in Bhutan, India, Mongolia, Nepal, and now in Sri Lanka. It is with a special thought for you that we tell the story of this fantastic student.
Elspeth Beard is a courageous Englishwoman who decided to go on a motorcycle tour around the world, by herself, in the 80’s.
While she is studying archaeology in England, Elspeth starts to feel like discovering other places. With her BMW R 60/6, which she works on alone in her garage, she travels through Ireland and Scotland. This spirit of discovery will never leave her from then on, instead it starts to grow…and it grows big! It’s decided: she will go travel the world after her third year of university.To get the necessary funds to carry out her project, she works in the bar of her university in the evening, after classes.After having saved enough money, she gears up and takes off to the Big Apple. Driving her faithful motorcycle, she discovers Canada before riding through the United States to reach Mexico. From there, she heads back up North to Los Angeles from where she embarks on a ferry across the Pacific to get to Sydney. Her bike joins a few days later. 

She spends seven months in Sydney. Along with the development of an architectural project as part of her studies, she blossoms discovering the Australian roads. After a two weeks stay at the hospital due to an accident, she doesn’t give up and continues her trip in Australia. Her thirst for discovery strongly increases. 
A few weeks later, she heads towards Asia. Her first stop: Singapore. Then she goes to India for a couple of months, before crossing Iran in a scary post-revolutionary atmosphere. She keeps her helmet on her head while on foot, to hide her femininity. “Her own burka”, says the brave biker. Affected by hepatitis and severe dysentery, she rests in Turkey for a few weeks before traveling through Greece and Yugoslavia, which was under high tension at the time. Finally, the globetrotter returns to her home in England, completely exhausted.

Elspeth Beard spent 3 years on the road, traveled 77,250 kilometers on a single bike and lost 44 pounds despite being only 24 years of age. Today, she still drives a motorcycle and lives on her passion for architecture. 
So, ladies, if you are tempted by a motorcycle tour, do not hesitate to contact us. Our girls at Vintage Rides will give a feminine touch to their advice!